Question Period Note: ATIP – ANNUAL REPORT 2018-19

ISSUE: Tabling of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)’s
2019-20 Annual Report on the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Acts.

PROPOSED RESPONSE:
• I am pleased to acknowledge the tabling of the Department’s 2019-20 Annual Report on Access to Information (ATI) and Privacy.
• IRCC is committed to responding to Canadians in a manner that is effective and efficient, and remains the most accessed federal government institution, with a total of 116,928 ATI requests received in 2019-20. This is an increase of 42 percent from the previous reporting period.
• In spite of the increasing volumes of ATI requests, the Department attained a compliance rate of 64.39 percent.
• Complaints to the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) were made in less than half a percent of all requests received.

If pressed:
• The Department received 15,963 privacy requests. Notifications of complaints from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) were received in less than half a percent of cases.

IRCC’s Annual Report on Access to Information and Privacy will be tabled in the House of Commons.

Access to Information:

• IRCC’s Annual Report on Access to Information (ATI) and Privacy demonstrates a strong performance in the face of a continued increase of ATIP requests.

• Once again, the Department has received more ATI requests than any other federal institution. In the 2019-20 fiscal year, a total of 116,928 ATI requests were received, which represents an increase of 42 percent from the previous year. It is important to note that during the reporting period, IRCC completed 111,593 requests.

• 59.7 percent of requests received (69,839) were from the business sector. The general public accounted for 26.2 percent of all requests received (30,675) while 8 percent (9,230) were from the media, academia, and organizations. The remaining 6.1 percent (7,184) represented requesters who declined to identify themselves.

Privacy:

• IRCC received 15,963 requests for information under the Privacy Act, and completed 15,349 requests.

As a result of the lockdown, IRCC ATIP Division had to adjust processes and procedures to facilitate employees working from home, as well as work closely with our information technology services to equip employees with sufficient remote capacity. IRCC continues to function well, and has been successful at maintaining similar response rates on ATIP requests and consultations.

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